I realised recently that the blog post that I link to at the top of every post here that includes affiliate links was on Bonjour, Blogger! which is currently on hiatus (and to be fair, the post was probably a bit outdated by now because I think I wrote it in 2015!) and prior to that, I wrote about affiliate linking on this blog way back in 2011, so definitely time for an update, and I thought why not go a little more in depth this time so you fully understand how affiliate linking works (or you can totally skip this if you’re not interested!)
If you’ve ever seen a blogger or influencer share a link to Amazon on their stories, or tell you to check out their summer picks on their LTK, chances are that you’ve come across an affiliate link.
An affiliate link is a special way for a retailers website to know who sent the shopper their way – its like a referral scheme. If the shopper buys something (and it doesn’t have to be the exact item that was linked – but I’ll go into that bit later!) then the retailer may send the referrer a small commission at no extra cost to the shopper.
How Do Affiliate Links Work?
When you click an affiliate link, it doesn’t just take you to the item a creator mentioned – it also carries a tiny bit of extra information that tells the shop who sent you there. Sometimes that tracking is built right into the link itself (you might spot something like ?ref=hayley or ?tag=creatorname-21 at the end of the URL), and sometimes, once the page loads, a small file called a cookie is saved to your browser. That cookie acts like a short-term memory for the shop, letting them know which creator referred you for a set period of time – usually anywhere from a few hours to 30 days. No personal data is stored in the cookie, and I don’t see what you actually purchased if you use one of my links – all I can see is which of my links that you clicked to get there! If you return anything, then the affiliate commission is reversed, which is why most pay out periods will be 90+ days.
Something that isn’t always mentioned when talking about affiliate links is that the last click “wins” the referral – for example, you are watching Instagram stories, and click one Amazon referral link from influencer A, then you click a different Amazon referral link from influencer B, then make a purchase, influencer B would get the referral payout, even if you actually ended up buying the item that influencer A linked to. This is actually what the controversy around the Honey coupon browser extension is all about – many influencers promoting Honey didn’t realise that when a shopper clicked the button to find coupon codes, the extension was quietly dropping its own cookie – overwriting previous affiliate links so Honey collected the commission instead of the creators.
Using an affiliate link should not cost the shopper any more than the listed price – the commission the creator earns would normally come from the brands marketing budget.
Why I Use Affiliate Links
Most of the time, when you see me share an affiliate link, it’s because I’m talking about something I own, use, or would recommend to a friend. For me, affiliate links are a nice bonus to include in a post instead of a full on strategy. I don’t actively chase commissions, or do things like Amazon live videos, but if I’m already sharing something that I love anyway, I might as well include an affiliate link to potentially make a few pennies.
To put it into perspective, most affiliate commissions are tiny. For example, the current rate for a book on Amazon is 4.5%, so if you buy a £10 book, then I would earn 45p. I know, absolute riches. At the moment, I am mostly using Collective Voice, ShopMy and Amazon. (Collective Voice and ShopMy basically do the same thing, so I’m trying to figure out which one I like better – if you have any thoughts on that, let me know!)
How To Spot An Affiliate Link
OK, so you’re happily browsing along on the web and you see a link – how do you know that the link is an affiliate link? First – at least in theory – the link is clearly defined as an affiliate link. As I’ll explain below, this is a legal requirement (at least in the US and UK), but I’m sure you can think of times the disclosure is missing or very well hidden!
Thankfully, there are other ways to identify affiliate links from the URL’s used. Below I’ve listed the main platforms you’re likely to see when browsing fashion, beauty and lifestyle content, as well as what URL structures they use, so even if the link isn’t disclosed, you’ll still be able to tell if it’s an affiliate link
| Affiliate Platform | Link Structure | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Associates | The link will include ?tag=XXX where XXX is the influencers specific code (so for me, that would be &tag=ceriselle0e-20) | Amazon does offer a shortlink structure, so the URL will appear as amazon.to, which will redirect to the long URL where you can see the tag |
| Collective Voice (formerly known as Shopstyle Collective) | shopstyle.it | |
| LTK (formerly known as rewardStyle, or LikeToKnow.It) | rstyle.me liketk.it | |
| ShopMy | shopmy.us | |
| AWIN (also known as Affiliate Window) | awin1.com shareasale.com dwin1.com | |
| CJ Affiliate (formerly Commission Junction) | anrdoezrs.net dpbolvw.net kqzyfj.com tkqlhce.com jdoqocy.com qksrv.net ftjcfx.com lduhtrp.net tqlkg.com | CJ Affiliate domains are random letters, and then after the domain, it will have something like “/click-xxxx-xxxx”. |
| Impact Radius | trackingdomain.net pxf.io sjv.io eqjw.net 7eer.net ojrq.net audw.net pvxt.net snlv.net hmxg.net | Impact also does the random domains, the brand that the link relates to will usually be before the domain (e.g. brand.pxf.io) |
| MagicLinks | magik.ly | |
| Rakuten Advertising (also known as Linkshare) | linksynergy.com rakutenadvertising.com rakutenmarketing.com click.linksynergy.com click.linksynergy.net | |
| Skimlinks | go.skimlinks.com go.redirectingat.com skimresources.com | |
| Sovrn//Commerce (VigLink) | viglink.com redirect.viglink.com affiliate.viglink.com commerce.sovrn.com |
Disclosure
If you’ve been around here for a while, you’ll know I’m pretty keen on disclosure in blogging and influencing. (I’ve even given talks about it at conferences) . I think it’s important for the reader to know what’s going on, so they can make the decision whether to interact with the content. By not giving the reader all the information about why you’ve included that link, it just feels a bit sneaky.
The way that I disclose on the blog is with a block of text at the top – actually the reason I’m writing this post! If the post contains affiliate links (like my recent post about clear bags for sports events) then the following block appears at the top of the post:
This post contains affiliate links – if you click the link and make a purchase of any kind from that website within a certain time, I will receive a percentage of that purchase. This should not affect the price that you pay.
If you would like to learn more about how affiliate links work, please head over to this post and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!
If I use an affiliate link on Instagram Stories or Threads (or whatever other social media platform we use in the future!) then I will mark clearly that its an affiliate link (usually by writing “affiliate link” right next to it, just to make sure theres no confusion there.
In the US, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires that any time that an influencer has a financial, employment, personal or family relationship with a brand that it should be disclosed – so for affiliate links, there is obviously the financial relationship. The disclosure must be placed so it’s hard to miss, so that’s why I put the disclosure at the top of the post, or a notification next to the link on social media. In the UK, it’s pretty similar – the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and CAP (Committee of Advertising Practice) Code have similar rules, the disclosure should be clear and obvious and easy to understand.
I think that’s about everything! But if there’s something I’ve missed or you still have questions, feel free to leave a comment – if you’ve been around here for a while, you’ll know that I love chatting about this kind of thing! And if you’ve ever used one of my affiliate links, thank you so much – your support genuinely helps keep this space running and allows me to keep creating the kind of posts you enjoy reading. Every bit of engagement helps more than you’d think. 💜
If you found this post helpful, feel free to share it with a friend who’s ever asked “what even is an affiliate link?”
